Recalling the Conciliar Constitution
Sacrosanctum Concilium (cf. n. 8),
the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches that “In the earthly
liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated
in the Holy City of Jerusalem” (n. 1090). Taking up this exquisitely
theological awareness, it then confirms that “Those who even now celebrate
it without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is
wholly communion and feast” (n. 1136). And it adds: “It is in this eternal
liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we
celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments” (n. 1139).

Hence,
liturgical action is not exhausted in its merely historical dimension.
Rather, it is a tasting (cf. John Paul II,
General Audience, 28.06.2000), a
real though pale reflection (cf. Benedict XVI,
Homily at the celebration of
Vespers in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, 12.09.2008), of what is
incessantly celebrated in the highest heavens. Hence, the ecclesial liturgy
is not simply a more or less faithful imitation of the heavenly liturgy, or
a parallel or alternative celebration. Rather, it means and represents a
concrete sacramental epiphany of the eternal liturgy.

One of the biblical images that is the foundation of all this is proposed
in the Book of Revelation, in whose pages a luminous icon is delineated of
the heavenly liturgy (cf. Revelation 4-5; 6,9; 7,1-9; 12; 14,1; 21;; 22,1;
and also the CCC, nos. 1137-1138).

It is the whole of creation that raises incessant praise to God. And it
is precisely to this uninterrupted liturgy of heaven that the community made
up of the holy people of God, gathered in fraternal exultation in the
liturgical assembly, is associated mystically in the ecclesial celebrations.
Heaven and earth join together again in a sublime communio sanctorum.

Hence it is not difficult to understand the truth of faith explained by
the Catechism when it teaches that the liturgy is the action of the “whole
Christ” (CCC n. 1136), namely of the Head indissolubly united to His
Mystical Body, which is the Church as a whole: heavenly, purgative,
pilgrimaging.

Moreover, the liturgical action carried out is not only/just a
celebration of members of some ecclesial community. It is always the whole,
universal Church that is truly involved. Thus, it is precisely in the
liturgy that the sculptural description of the Church as “sacrament of unity”
is truly in its greatest radiance. In it, in fact, the profound unity that
is in force between the faithful becomes a live, real and concrete
expression.

In this connection, in n. 1140 the CCC speaks also of the preference that
must be given in liturgical worship to the community celebration as opposed
to the individual or semi-private. This is explained, above all, because of
the “epiphanic” value of the liturgy: that is, the community rite is not a
rite that has more “value,” but it is undoubtedly a rite that manifests
better the ecclesial character of every liturgical celebration.

The same number of the Catechism specifies, moreover, that not all
liturgical rites entail a community celebration: this is true in particular
for the Sacrament of Reconciliation (whose celebration – but for altogether
exceptional cases – must be individual!), for the Anointing of the Sick, and
for numerous Sacramentals. The Eucharistic sacrifice represents, instead,
the highest degree that the community celebration can express: it is offered,
in fact, in the name of the whole Church, it is the principal sign of unity,
the greatest bond of charity.

It must be said, however, that even when the liturgical action is carried
out individually, it never loses its essentially ecclesial, community and
public character.

Hence, it is necessary that participation in the liturgical action be “active”,
so that the individual faithful does not assure only his exterior presence,
but also his interior involvement through a conscious attention of the mind
and a predisposition of the heart, which are either man’s answer awakened by
grace or his fruitful cooperation with it.

However, the essentially community dimension of the liturgical action
does not exclude the coexistence of the hierarchical dimension (on the
contrary, the concept itself of “ecclesial community” requires and includes
the “ecclesial hierarchy”). Liturgical worship, in fact, reflecting the
theandric nature of the Church, is the action of the whole people of God,
which is ordered and acts under the guidance of the sacred ministers. The
express mention of bishops (cf. CCC, n. 1140) is a call to the constitutive
centrality of the episcopal figure, around whom the liturgical life of the
local Church revolves. In simpler words, although the celebration is of the
whole Church, it cannot be carried out without the sacred ministers. This is
particularly true for the Eucharist, whose celebration is reserved to
priests by divine right.

Within the liturgical action, understood as a limpid manifestation of the
unity of the Body of the Church, in virtue of his Baptism the individual
faithful carries out his own task, according to his state of life and of the
office he holds within the community (cf. CCC, nos. 1142; 1144). In addition
to the consecrated ministers (bishops, priests and deacons), there is also a
variety of liturgical ministries (sacristans, altar boys, readers, psalmists,
acolytes, commentators, musicians, choristers, etc.) whose task is regulated
by the Church, or determined and specified by the diocesan bishop according
to the liturgical traditions or the pastoral needs of the particular Church
to which he is appointed.